Worth It
by EmberForge
Summary: One thing Bill and Nardole have in common is that they can both kick some serious ass. (Post-Oxygen, Pre-The Pyramid at the End of the World.)


"...but you already know that."

"So we're agreed, then? You're going to tell-"

 _BANG_

The Doctor and Nardole's conversation was cut off as the TARDIS door flew open, admitting a rather hurried looking Bill Potts. "You called?" She asked breathlessly. She took a moment to gently close the door behind her, then turned back to them with a sheepish smile.

The Doctor glared at Nardole, who was currently doing his best impression of, 'I didn't call your companion and say that you had an urgent matter to discuss.' It fooled Bill, anyway. "Bill," The Doctor began, "I-"

The Doctor was once again interrupted by a loud beeping, and a flashing message suddenly appeared on the TARDIS console screen. He tapped his sunglasses, downloading the information as he pretended to study the device. "Hmm. It's a code. But it's not like any I've seen before. This may take some time to crack- which for me means about fifteen minutes." He whirled around to face his companions. "I'm going to go to the library and break out the old cryptology books. Bill, Nardole, do whatever it is you do when I'm not around. I'll need absolute concentration to figure this out. We'll be set to go in about twenty minutes."

Nardole sighed at the Doctor's retreating back, recognizing the evasion for what it was, however legitimate the origin.

"Soo..." Bill trailed off from her spot near the doorway.

Nardole turned to look at her. He couldn't shake off the feeling that something wasn't right. He forwent an immediate answer in exchange for studying her more closely. She had recovered from her mad dash to the TARDIS, but she still seemed to be in some kind of discomfort. She was shifting her weight anxiously from foot to foot, wringing her hands as she waited awkwardly for his response...

Ah. That was it.

"You," Nardole said, proceeding to point first at her, then to the lower hallway that the Doctor had disappeared into. "Come on."

He turned on his heel and quickly started walking away from her. Bill nearly had to sprint to catch up. "Where are we going?" She asked from behind him. "The Doctor basically told us not to bother him."

"We never finished your tour of the TARDIS."

"...Yeah. But, wouldn't that take, like, a thousand years to actually finish? This place is huge!"

"Five hundred and eighty-seven years, to be exact," Nardole muttered, too focused on his destination to give her exclamations much attention.

"So where are you taking me, then?"

"...Here."

They stopped in front of a door that opened automatically at their arrival. Nardole immediately walked through and over to a cabinet that was pushed against a wall, gathering supplies, while Bill just stared at their new surroundings. The gleaming white walls and floor nearly hurt to look at. "What's this, a hospital?"

"Welcome to the TARDIS medbay," Nardole told her. "Now come on, up you go," he said, gesturing towards a cot that he had pulled a little cart of supplies near.

"But I'm fine."

"No, your not. Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been fiddling with your hand ever since you stepped into the TARDIS. You'd have to be blind not to see it."

Bill guiltily pulled her hands apart, clenching her left into a fist while her right hung curled up at her side. "Yeah, well, the Doctor didn't notice," she grumbled, but nevertheless came forward and perched on the end of the cot.

Nardole gave her a look, but managed to bite his tongue against the reply that wanted to come out. Instead, he grabbed her right hand, mostly ignoring her hiss of pain as gently uncurled her fingers. Most of it didn't look bad. Her knuckles were a bit bruised, with a thin cut adorning her ring finger. There were bits of dried blood in between the webbing of her fingers, too, like she had tried to wash up but hadn't done a thorough enough job. Her thumb, however, was another story. It looked to be bent at an odd angle, bruised and swelling up near the joint. Nardole turned her hand a bit to get a better look. "Can you move it?"

Nardole heard her hiss as he watched her thumb twitch. "Not really," she admitted.

Nardole grabbed a scanner and ran it over her hand, studying the results intently. The thumb was definitely broken, and would need to be reset in order to heal properly. Luckily, the rest of the wounds were only superficial. Deciding to start small and work his up, Nardole grabbed a tin of white cream that he carefully started to rub over her bruised knuckles. "So," he said after a moment of silence, "Feel like telling me how this happened?"

"Well, I was coming out of the cinema...," Bill started. At Nardole's encouraging nod, she continued. "... and there were these two boys there. Had to have been sixteen at the oldest. They had been in the movie with me, holding hands, sharing popcorn. It was really cute.

"Seemed like they were getting home in different ways, because the one said goodbye to the other at the door. Nervously pecked him on the cheek and everything before he left. I've never seen someone turn so red!" She smiled at the picture in her mind, and Nardole couldn't help but smile as well at her enthusiasm. "Looked like it might have been the first time that happened. The kid had such a dopey grin on his face afterward..." she paused her expression sobering. "But then this bigger, older kid walked over. He had been watching them, and the sight of the two of them set off a switch or something. He started yelling at the boy, calling him all sorts of... just, terrible names. The boy looked like he was about to cry."

"So then what happened?" Nardole asked, screwing the lid back onto the tin.

"So then, I couldn't stand seeing all that, so I walked over and punched that asshole in the face. There was a lot of blood. Don't think I broke anything though."

Nardole was quiet as he concentrated on rummaging through his supplies. Bill waited nervously for his response. "...Shame," he said after a moment, having found what he was looking for. "Should've hit him harder."

Bill couldn't contain her grin. "He ran off with his tail between his legs. All bark and no bite! Well, a little bite, I guess. I think I cut my finger on his tooth when I punched him."

Nardole paused what he was doing and grabbed a small device from the edge of the cart. He then proceeded to unceremoniously press it firmly against her arm. Bill yelped when she felt it stab her. "What was that for?" She exclaimed.

Nardole took a moment to put the device into a little machine before turning back to her. "Blood sample. Judging by the blood still stuck in between your fingers, I'm going to assume you got the guy's blood into your open wound. Just need to make sure that's not going to be harmful in the long run."

Bill half heartedly glared at him, reaching for her shoulder but pausing when she realized she was about to use her injured hand. "Ah yes, time to fix that..." Nardole grabbed an actual syringe from the tray this time, and Bill's eyes went wide. She tried to pull her hand behind her back, but Nardole snagged her wrist in an unrelenting grip. He just stared at her until she stopped trying to pull away.

"Come on, you already stabbed me once, i don't feel like doing it again."

"It's a local anesthetic. Trust me, this will hurt a hell of a lot more without it."

Bill sighed. "Fine." The prick near the base of her thumb was surprisingly gentle, and she was thankful for it. Within seconds her entire hand had gone numb. Nardole carefully maneuvered her other fingers so that they were as out of the way as possible, then Bill watched with morbid fascination as he skillfully straightened her thumb back into place.

"Anyway," she continued, "So after they guy ran off, I went to make sure the kid was alright. He was upset, but more or less okay. Apparently the guy goes to the same school as him and bullies him, so it wasn't a total shock. But apparently this was the first time the kid had gone out on a proper date with his boyfriend, and I guess when the bully saw them he couldn't pass it up.

"I bought him ice cream to try to cheer him up. Even gave him my punch card so that he can get a free one on his next visit. It'd be a great date idea. Anyways, we talked quite a bit. His name's Liam. He was really nice. I ended up giving him my number, told him if that guy ever bothered him again to let me know. Seemed unlikely, though. I think the guy was crying when he ran off, didn't seem like he could handle being stood up to like that. It was _so_ worth it."

"I'm glad something decent came out of it in the end," Nardole told her. "Violence may not the best answer, you can't deny that it was effective for you." He then picked up a splint that seemed to be glowing slightly and secured it over her thumb. "Nanogenes," he said, answering her unasked question. "All you need to do is leave that on for an hour, and you should be right as rain." A ding rang out from the machine he had put her blood sample in, and he briefly left her side to go check it. "Everything's coming up clear, so it looks like you have a clean _bill_ of health." It was terrible, but Bill laughed anyway.

"So," Nardole said as they were leaving the medbay, "you punched the guy with your thumb pulled in, didn't you."

Bill gave him a sheepish smile. "Yeah..."

"You know, I know a thing or two about self defense. Even more about how to deal with assholes. I can teach you some things I've picked up, if you like."

Bill's smile became more genuine. "That would be great, yeah."

"Let the TARDIS tour continue, then," Nardole said. "Next stop, the gym."


End file.
